FOOTBALL: Pennsbury powers past Philly's Frankford

PHILADELPHIA — Everyone knows the Pennsbury football team has an explosive offense. If its defense is also up to the task, there’s no telling what the young Falcons may accomplish this year.

On this front it was all good news yesterday for Pennsbury fans as their team posted an impressive 43-12 victory at Philadelphia Public League kingpin Frankford.

After giving up nearly 40 points the week before against Easton, this time the Pennsbury defense allowed only one touchdown. And that came on a Frankford drive that covered all of six yard after the Falcons fumbled the ball away deep in their own territory in the third quarter.

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“The defense did play better,” said Pennsbury coach Galen Snyder after his team evened its record at 1-1. “We won the battle up front.”

On both sides of the ball as Pennsbury churned out a whopping 389 rushing yards and the defense limited Franklin to two completions in 21 attempts while also picking off two passes.

Coaches often say the most improvement comes from week one to week two. Frankford is no Easton, but the Pennsbury tackling was much crisper and the secondary was nearly always in position.

Pennsbury showed it could move the ball right away when junior Charles Snorweah raced 50 yards on the first play from the line of scrimmage. It was the start of a monster first half for Snorweah, who had 187 yards on eight carries in the first two quarters before settling for 199 for the game.

Pennsbury did not score on its first drive because it fumbled on the Frankford 1-yard line, but it did cash in the next time on a 49-yard burst by Snorweah.

The lead grew to 14-0 early in the second quarter on a 44-yard run by Snorweah. It was 21-0 by the half after Snorweah followed an interception by Rob Daly with a 9-yard touchdown run on fourth down.

Much like it had against Easton the week before, Pennsbury came out flat for the second half. The result was an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Christian Santiago. When Pennsbury then fumbled the ball and Damion Samuels scored on a 6-yard run, the Falcon lead had suddenly been reduced to 21-12.

Pennsbury did not score in the third quarter, but with its defense holding strong, reaching the end zone was not a problem in the fourth.

In order, Ronquay Smith scored on a 3-yard dive, Raheem Thompson raced 42 yards for a touchdown and backup Nick DeMarcus plowed 15 yards up the middle to complete the scoring.

In addition to Snorweah’s 199 yards, Pennsbury got 70 yards on six carries by Thompson and 60 yards on 10 carries by Smith. The Falcons did not throw the ball well, completing just one of seven passes, but it hardly mattered with the way their huge offensive line kept opening up gigantic holes in the Frankford defense.

“Obviously, the offensive line is one of our strengths,” said Snyder of a group that returned four of five starters. “I was also happy with our pass defense. We got more of a rush and the secondary played well.”

Interestingly, Pennsbury’s opponent for a Thursday night home game this week is Downingtown East. In its opener, Downingtown East beat Frankford, 28-14, in a game in which the Philly team was plagued by turnovers.

Comparing scores can be foolish, but Pennsbury will certainly be a confident team when it takes to Falcon Field against Downingtown East.